ZAHA’S MAGIC LIFTS INJURY-HIT PALACE 1 1
Anything Maupay can do, Wilf can do better in Selhurst draw
NEAL MAUPAY may have been born in Versailles but only one man reigns supreme at Crystal Palace.
Maupay scored his seventh of the season and third in as many games for Brighton, who dominated injuryhit Crystal Palace.
But Eagles talisman Wilfried Zaha snatched a draw from what seemed certain defeat with a magical combination of skill and finishing to bag his third goal in five games.
Zaha scored a double in Palace’s last win over Brighton in April 2018 and now has six goals against the Seagulls over the last eight years. They must be sick of the sight of him.
Zaha said: “I was overjoyed to get the goal because we’ve worked so hard and got a good run going.
“We barely had the ball so even when we had attacks we were too tired to do anything. Props to them. But we pushed on and pressed and we deserved a point at least.”
Maupay, a £16million summer signing from Brentford, is learning English with the help of Drake and Adele lyrics. He said: “We should have won. We played better than them, we had chances and put pressure on them.They scored a nice goal but it’s disappointing in the end to draw.”
Palace were looking for payback after losing home and away to Brighton last season but, in the grip of the worst injury crisis of Roy Hodgson’s time, they made a poor start. The warning signs were there early when Aaron Mooy was given the freedom of Selhurst Park to march forward and fire a curling effort into the side netting.
Vicente Guaita saved well from Martin Montoya, who skipped too easily past makeshift left-back Jairo
Riedewald, making his first league start since February 2018. Replays showed Montoya went down after contact from Riedewald just before getting an off-balance shot off.
And there was also a suspicion of offside as Davy Propper played Montoya though but, after looking at all the angles,VAR ruled the on-pitch no-penalty call was correct.
Palace were relieved to get to halftime with the score still goalless and Hodgson replaced the struggling Riedewald with James McCarthy, and switched James McArthur to left-back.
But when Brighton finally broke the deadlock, it came from that problem left-back position. Palace failed to clear Leandro Trossard’s first-time cross and Maupay pounced to smash it into the roof of the net from 10 yards.
Palace barely threatened in response – until Zaha raised the roof by skinning Montoya and firing his left-foot screamer past Brighton goalkeeper Mathew Ryan.And while Maupay went close again, neither side could find a winner.
CRYSTAL PALACE (4-3-3): Guaita 7; Kelly 6, Tomkins 5, Dann 6, Riedewald 4 (McCarthy 46, 5); Kouyate 5 (Meyer 67, 6), Milivojevic 6, McArthur 5; Ayew 5, Benteke 5, Zaha 7. Goal:
Zaha 76.
BRIGHTON (4-3-3): Ryan 6; Montoya 7, Webster 6, Dunk 6, Burn 6; Propper 8, Bissouma 7 (Duffy 84), Mooy 7; Gross 7, (Bernardo 90), Maupay 7, Trossard 7 (Alzate 84). Goal:
Maupay 54.